


Nowhere to Be

by notfromcold



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Hurt Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Immortal Husbands, M/M, Nicky wishes he felt well enough to make breakfast, Soft Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani, Speed Write, Team Feels, Temporary Character Death, as is common in this fandom, blood cw, chronic pain metaphors via immortality, not too graphic I don't think but I'm covering my bases, the body keeps the score and all that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:40:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28379400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notfromcold/pseuds/notfromcold
Summary: In which sometimes the body remembers dying and no desire to get up and make coffee will assuage it.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 17
Kudos: 170





	1. Chapter 1

Nicky woke slowly. He was curled with Joe in a nest of blankets on the safehouse floor. His body ached everywhere and nowhere. The floorboards were uncomfortable points of pressure on his hip and shoulder. One of those deaths, then. He’d be hurting all day, a constant background ache until he’d want to lie down and scream with it. He hated those deaths.

Joe nuzzled into his shoulder and Nicky smiled at that, trying to press closer to his lover. The quality of sunlight suggested that it was only just morning. Perhaps 6 am. On a better morning, Nicky would relish the peace and quiet of the slightly chilly house and the clicks of the coffee machine when he turned it on. On a better morning, he’d consider making breakfast for his family, bringing Joe a warm croissant and coffee in bed (or at least on floor).

They’d been blown up, he remembered. He’d still been healing when they’d returned to the safehouse. He wasn’t sure if he had fallen asleep or passed out on the floor. He remembered freezing and shaking from the blood loss. He remembered Andy stroking his hair with one hand and Joe’s with the other as Joe curled around him, trying to keep him warm.

He was still freezing. Probably still from the blood loss.

“Hey.” Joe’s voice pulled him from his thoughts. Joe looked tired, dark smudges under his eyes that he only got when exhausted. 

“Hey, yourself.” He sounded terrible and probably looked worse. His voice was wrecked – a vague memory of screaming. His clothes were shredded and he was covered in dried blood.

“What do you need, Nicky?”

“I’m cold,” Nicky said and tried not to wince at how distressed he sounded.

“Mmm, come here.” Joe opened his arms and Nicky gingerly pushed himself into them. “Sore?” Joe asked.

“Yeah. I think it’s going to be a slow day.”

“That’s alright, love. We have nowhere to be.”

Nicky relaxed. His body still hurt but it was less of a battleground, a safer place to be, when it was in Joe’s arms.


	2. Chapter 2

Nicky dozed in Joe's arms. The morning progressed in bits and snatches. The sun rose higher, laying down window pane patterns of light across their cozy nest. Eventually Joe stirred and asked, "Shower?"

"Hmm. You should take one, love. I think I might pass out if I stand under hot water." Nicky ran a hand down Joe's blood streaked face, his heart suddenly in his throat. "Is all this yours? There's a lot. I didn't notice."

"It's yours." Joe's exhausted face was almost scoured of emotion. But his eyes were bright with worry and love and relief. 

"Oh, sweetheart." Nicky traced a hand down Joe's cheek again. "I think you'll feel better if you shower. But bring me some wet wipes and a change of clothes. I'll freshen up in here."

"Okay," Joe sighed. Then he smiled, easy and loving amid the blood and dirt. "If wet wipes you desire, wet wipes you will have."

"Go. Go." Nicky swatted at his arm. "Don't try to be gallant. There's no romanticizing wet wipes."

While Joe was getting his things, Nicky looked around the room. He hadn’t really noticed much during the night and the morning was already beginning to fade into a warm blur in his memory. There were big windows, facing out onto green leaves and branches – like being in a tree house. The walls were bare and the floor was rough wood, not sanded or finished. It seemed as though Andy and Booker had piled every blanket and pillow in the house onto the floor to make a bed for Joe and Nicky. Nicky smiled, feeling both guilty and fond.

Footsteps. And then Joe returning to his field of vision. “Here you are, habibi: treasures. Wet wipes, your clothes, a bottle of water, and electrolyte tablets. Try to drink all of it, yeah?”

Nicky nodded. “I’ll try. Enjoy your shower. Try to relax.”

Once Joe was gone, Nicky opened the water and sipped, closing his eyes against the lingering dizziness. He drank small sips for a while and then he took the electrolyte tablets. Once he was sure he could move around without fainting, he started on his clothes. It was a slow process to strip his tattered, sticky clothes with his half numb fingers, but he managed it at last. The wet wipes felt like a herculean task. His unmarred body ached. 

If he’d asked, Joe, or Andy, or Booker would have helped him. And it wasn’t guilt that stopped him from asking. He needed a moment with his body, he needed a moment to befriend it again, like calming a nervous horse. It had been through something – he had been through something. He needed a moment to tame it again.

Nicky imagined offering his body an apple as he wiped off the last of the blood. The thought made him laugh to himself, at least until he remembered that giving his body food probably was a good idea. Maybe food would help.

He was pulling a hoodie over his head when he heard Andy and Booker in the hallway. When he looked over his shoulder Booker had Joe in his arms, gently rubbing his back. Nicky felt so grateful he thought he might explode all over again.

Andy looked tired but alert. “I’m making coffee and pancakes,” she announced. “Nicky?”

“Yeah,” Nicky said, “that sounds good.”

Andy nodded. “Good. Finish your water.”

Then Booker and Joe were back and Booker was saying something that Nicky didn’t catch but that seemed to make Joe laugh. And Joe was settling next to Nicky and opening his arms. And, oh, he was warm from his shower and it felt so good on Nicky’s chilled and aching body.

Nicky closed his eyes. And he kept them closed until Booker brought him coffee.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how to treat blood loss, I just work here. Also Nicky is immortal. 
> 
> Come say hi on tumblr dot com where I'm also notfromcold.

**Author's Note:**

> Speed write originally posted on Tumblr where my blog is under the same username. Come say 'hi!'


End file.
